Watchmen Concept Art Revealed

First look at image spreads from the upcoming Dave Gibbons book “Watching the Watchmen”

In case you haven't heard, the legendary Dave Gibbons, illustrator and co-creator of Watchmen, has a book in the works that will show the creative development process of the the groundbreaking comic series.

Inside a promotional brochure — which was distributed at this year’s Bristol Comics Expo — were some images of eight of the proposed sample spreads that you might find inside this book appropriately titled “Watching the Watchmen.”

Two of the images included an early sketch of Walter Kovacs and Rorschach and Dave Gibbons’ first sketch of the characters of Watchmen accompanied by a note to Moore that reads, “Alan - Thought you might like this. This is the first visual I’d feel like showing anyone else!”

There was also a spread that displayed the image of some personal notes from Alan Moore to Dave Gibbons detailing some character outlines and an early draft of a cover image with the discarded title “Amazing Heroes.”

One image showed early character shots that the caption described “reflect a slightly more traditional super hero sensibility,” complete with a fully spandex clad Rorschach and an Ozymandias with long flowing hair, and another showed thumbnail layouts from the fourth issue of the comic.

Published by Titan Books, “Watching the Watchmen” will give Dave Gibbons’ own account of the genesis of Watchmen and contain excised pages, early versions of the script, original character designs, page thumbnails, sketches and much more, including posters, covers and rare portfolio art. The book is slotted for release in October, 2008.